School lunch investigation to set precedent

Dougherty County school officials are working closely with the Dougherty County District Attorney's Office to determine how they'll handle any potential future free lunch fraud cases.

District Attorney Greg Edwards says the current free lunch investigation will set a precedent as to how they monitor lunch applications next year.

Under the federal law, 3 percent of school lunch applications are required to undergo an audit but starting next fall a greater number of applications will be audited.

Edwards says this is simply a measure to protect the school system against fraud.

"We give everyone notice that if you put something falsely on your application for lunch, you will be subject to prosecution. That's definitively something that we're going to do," said Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards.

The district attorney and school board officials are currently waiting on information to decide how they'll handle those currently accused of free lunch fraud.